So after being in real estate from 19 to 22, I realized I have plenty of time in life (now 24) to do what I always wanted to do. Financial planning.

So its been about a year of reading everything I can about the field(however still a little confused on the role of a private banker vs financial advisor on the bank side.)

I have done the "hustle" in real estate before, but would still prefer to start on the bank side rather then the wirehouse. (I was able to talk around my age in real estate, but feel it may be harder in FP)

However, I don't have my degree yet (will have an accounting degree finished in early 2009) so no one will hire me on the bank side. I DO have teller experience and this is what I am looking for right now so I can get my foot in the door and demonstrate my sales and communication skills. I also plan on getting what licenses I can without sponsorship. I hope with the combination of the two I can get into the bank side without a finished degree.

So I am looking at the 66, 65, and 63. Investopia.com says I can take the 63 and 65 without sponsorship with a U-10 form. My understanding is that the 66 is just the 63 and 65 combined. However you can not take the 66 without sponsorship? Am I missing something?

Also for the bank reps, what kind of experience and education did you have when you got in? Did you come from outside/inside?

Maybe the big banks are different, but if you go to a small or midsized bank I don't see how you could succeed. I guess if you had a veteran or manager who was willing to take a lot of time to teach you the business then maybe it would work.

Most bank reps I know started working for one of the big firms that provides training. Do that for a few years, and the bank's will be falling over you, because they know they can just give you the keys to the office and you know what to do. They generally don't have the time or desire to train.

Also, to continue on my negative note (sorry), your age is going to be a hinderance, no matter how you slice it. For most of us the bread and butter clients are retired, and if you are younger than their grandkids there is a big trust issue, no matter how you present yourself. I know a few successful brokers who started in their early or mid 20's, but not very many. I was 30 with 3 kids and a seriously receding hairline when I started 4 years ago, and I still occasionally get credibility issues due to my age. I probably look 40, and I don't do anything to dissuade clients from believing I am a few years older than I really am.

Good luck, my advice would be to be more patient, be an accountant for a few years (will give you credibility with your clients) and then work for one of the big boys for a few years. At that point decide to be a wire broker, bank broker or independent.

When I started in real estate I asked my broker if my age would hinder me. He said only if I let it. I never turned back. However, it may not be 100% different in FP, but I think it would be a lot harder.

Maybe I should tough it out as a pit runner for $10/hr at CBOT and work my way up on that (non-client) side.

Im just very impatient. Im 24, wont have my degree untill mid 2008 (I used to be anti school and hardcore pro sales) and wanted to be making 6 digits by now. Im pissed. But then again were all just killing time......

So after being in real estate from 19 to 22, I realized I have plenty of time in life (now 24) to do what I always wanted to do. Financial planning.

Call me crazy but this smells like (and has all the symptons) of a guy who is chasing the latest craze. I'm sorry but if you were 6 or 7 years older your career experience would look like this:

1997-2000 Computer or Network Tech/Internet Startup Tech

2000-2002 Unemployed (and blaming Bush for jobs going overseas)

2002-2005 Real Estate Loan Agent/Loan Processor

2005-2006 Realtor

2006-Present Want to be trainee

You may get in on this biz and get on the tit. Then when the firm says you're on your own you move on to the latest employment buzz.

Just finish college. Being young is one thing. Being young and uneducated is quite another. Quit chasing the latest employment buzz. Worst case scenario - work at a bank, starting @ $30K with 3% annual raises plus bonuses, stay there for 30-35 years and retire.

That is free advice from someone who saw their friends do the exact same thing you're doing.

So after being in real estate from 19 to 22, I realized I have plenty of time in life (now 24) to do what I always wanted to do. Financial planning.

Call me crazy but this smells like (and has all the symptons) of a guy who is chasing the latest craze. I'm sorry but if you were 6 or 7 years older your career experience would look like this:

1997-2000 Computer or Network Tech/Internet Startup Tech

2000-2002 Unemployed (and blaming Bush for jobs going overseas)

2002-2005 Real Estate Loan Agent/Loan Processor

2005-2006 Realtor

2006-Present Want to be trainee

You may get in on this biz and get on the tit. Then when the firm says you're on your own you move on to the latest employment buzz.

Just finish college. Being young is one thing. Being young and uneducated is quite another. Quit chasing the latest employment buzz. Worst case scenario - work at a bank, starting @ $30K with 3% annual raises plus bonuses, stay there for 30-35 years and retire.

That is free advice from someone who saw their friends do the exact same thing you're doing

I would much rather be uneducated (as if an accounting degree touches any personal finance issues) than to make assumptions. You know what they say about making assumptions..... I learned this early in life. Good luck with the studies.

Financial planning has been a dream of mine since I was 17 and worked with the advisor at the credit union I worked at. I was better at sales then school so that's how real estate was my backup (besides the fact of also having a passion for the lucrative subject.)

A very much underappreciated path to enter this career is to join an existing financial planning shop. Smaller, independent shops have a need for help in order to grow.

Like any small business, the owner is busy (and successful), and hiring is the right person is difficult.

If you are creative, tenacious, and flexible (required for success in this industry), you should be able to identify a few opportunities near your home. This is like, going out and inspecting the fruit trees, and getting permission to pick some of the ripening fruit, before the farmer completes the regular harvest and you just go to the grocery store.

Give it a try - so some research, call up a few independent shops and ask for a thirty minute information interview over coffee ( you could bring in the Cafed Americanos.) Impress someone with your hustle, ask a lot of questions, and get out within the allotted information interview time. This activity, regardless of the outcome, will change your entire adult career life. Having done this myself many years ago, I guarantee you will be surprised at the postitive " side benefits".

I actually started this last night. I googled various popular firm names and the city I live in. Printed them all out. I have navigation in my car, so this weekend I will be typing every address in and just drive where it tells me. I figure worst case scenario I build some contacts in the industry, I take the teller job, get my 66 and life/health and try it all over again.

Since most small shop owners do not fully appreciate the power of growing through increased referrals from their own clients, you are in effect creating your own job by seeking to understand how things work.

If a smaller planning shop increased the level of contact and service with existing clients, and stages low-key, efficient appreciation events (like bring a friend lunches in a convient location near work or home - good new business is generated.

The energy and enthusiasm required to "sell" and implement the idea is ideally suited to a 24 year old. Age makes no difference - clients like to see the next generation coming along in a practice.

Extend this idea to small property and casualty insurance shops that now sell mutual funds, long term care and so on. The insurance industry is desperate to find the next generation of agents. Just because you work in insurance for a while does not hurt your financial planning career!

The more you learn, the more you will see and understand. Your age is always an asset - just different kind of asset when you are 24 vs. 54. Don't let yourself be defeated mentally before you jump out of the airplane.

Since we posted at the same time - congratulations on taking the initiative. Your good instincts shall be rewarded. Qualities like intelligence, persistance, enthusiasm - these are not empty concepts.

Having your own business here is like playing chess. That is why they have a series 7 - it is really just an intelligence test, to try to make sure we have smart people who demonstrate a little persistance.

Building your own path is one of the most rewarding aspects of this career, and it is always about a "marketing mix" - putting together the right elements in the right way - to stay alive ( for instance, you don't have to just take on big clients, but you need a few. Everything you do, and every one, teaches.

Since most small shop owners do not fully appreciate the power of growing through increased referrals from their own clients, you are in effect creating your own job by seeking to understand how things work.

If a smaller planning shop increased the level of contact and service with existing clients, and stages low-key, efficient appreciation events (like bring a friend lunches in a convient location near work or home - good new business is generated.

The energy and enthusiasm required to "sell" and implement the idea is ideally suited to a 24 year old. Age makes no difference - clients like to see the next generation coming along in a practice

GREAT advise! I have a very powerful system of getting referrals out of existing clients. I never even thought of using this approach to "show" them the value of bringing me aboard and expanding their own business. I will have to brush up on those skills and not leave until they are yelling at me (hopefully they will see the motivation and determination that I would also use for gathering prospects!)

Im pumped up now. I would take an assistant role at a local firm over a teller job all day!!

Please keep us posted on your progress. You will experience discouragement and success. Of course, the activity of contacting planning and insurance shops itself demonstrates desire and skill for doing the critical activities of being employee of said shop.

There are thousands of small, successful shops like mine. The odds that we are in the same town are pretty darn small. But I will be waiting for your call, and no matter what you say or my particular mood when I pick up the phone, I will be impressed that bothered to call me up and ask for what you want, because I understand what you are doing. So do thousands of other self-made successful small business owners, we are the fabric,the innovators, and the drivers of this great economy.

For whatever situation you uncover or create, I suggest you make sure it is a combination of service work and marketing work. Sitting at a desk all day with a phone, - " cold " contacting, no. But maybe you could spend some time walking around businesses or neighborhoods - Ed Jones style, along with sitting in on some service meetings for the planner or agent - and some time pulling up account information, putting notes into the ACT! contact managment system, even filing, and so on.

If you really think about it, this entire industry needs to grow by referral, like a real profession, vs. the old model of chasing people around by calling them up at their dinner table at home and so on. Of course, if money can be made that way, let's say, broker dealers will continue to run that model.

But with what you are doing, as a beginner, really the force is with you. Of course, by focusing on personal contact, you show people who you are and that is what you really have to offer is you. In other words, don't intimidated by what you don't know, because by the time you feel like you know "enough", or even have a really good handle on the profession, you likely won't be interested in moving about, turning over rocks, looking for potential clients that the your help in the form of the shining light of spring 2007.

And that will be too bad for the potential clients, not you. In the meantime, enjoy the springtime of your career in the best " job " in the greatest place to live and growth on the planet earth. You are the star of your own movie, you get to help other people and help yourself, and there are plenty of us around who want your

I will follow up tonight about more of your post planr. Im going to work on a script or "plan" to keep me on track when talking to some firm owners for tonight.

Also anyone else in my shoes should check out planrcoachs website in his sig. I only was able to read a few pages but I know I will be back to read more! Amazing info from a vet. Its not the same old common sense that anyone in sales should already know like having to hustle till dawn, but its gold.

Don't let your age stop you. I work for a regional bank/wirehouse and have only encountered a question about my age (25) one time. I was meeting with a client (prospect at the time) and he commented that his son is older than me. After a couple of meetings he transferred all of his accounts to me and the net result to me was $600K in a fee based account and a solid relationship.